Improvement in the mode of ornamenting metallic articles



1 axis of the tool. I then act upon it to ornament it in the man- UNITEDI STATES PATENT OFFICE;

FRANK w. Mix, orv TEnnYvILLv-n, coN-NnoTrcUT.`

I IMPROVEMENT IN THENMODE OF-ORNAMENTING METALLIC ARTICLES.Y`

Specification forming part of vLetters Patent No. 197,787, datedDecember. 4, 18777,; application filed f April 22, 1876. i'

, To all whom it may concern: l

I Y Beit known that I, FRANK W. M1X,of Terryville, in the county ofLitchfield and State lof Connecticut, have invented a new Method ofProducing Ornamental Effects upon Metallic Surfaces, or a new Method ofOrnamenting Metallic Surfaces; and that the following,

' taken in connection with the drawings, is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings, `Figure l is a perspective view of a machine by meansof which my pro-` cess or method maybe worked out. Fig. 2 is a plan of amortise-loclc front or face ornamented by my process; and Fig. 3 is aplan of @produces an effect upon the eye, owing to the fact that thegeneral plain surface is divided up into a great number of`surfaces ofsmall extent, which are curved or plain, and `lie at different angleswith each other; hence light,

striking the whole surface, is reliected'from surfaces of small extentat different angles with l each other also, some of the surfaces may bein shadow, or partially so, and some of them `may be in such relation tothe light and eye that they do not reflect.

In carrying` out my process, the surface to.

be ornamented is first to be smoothed by planing, grinding, milling, orin any proper way;

' and I prefer to do this by means of a facemilling tool, or a toolprovided with cuttingteeth on the end of the tool, so that they revolveand cut in a plane perpendicular to the After the surface is smoothedner hereinafter described, using to work out my process a:milling-machine with a facingtool, such as before referred to, in whichthe tool can be moved relatively to the surface to be ornamented, or thesurface can be moved relatively to the tool, or both the tool and thesurface can be moved relatively to each other. The drawings show amachine having the latter peculiarity, and represent a machine which Ihave employed with success; but I wish it distinctly understood that inall cases there must be a bed or table upon which the work lto beornamented can be supported or clamped,

or both supported and clamped, which bed is so supported that thesurface of the article to -be ornamented shall be always in thesamerelation to the milling tool-or cutter, differences owing tothe-springing of the cutters or their shafts excepted; or, in otherwords, the machine must be so constructed that the surface to beornamented' always moves in the same plane, while the tool is so mountedthatit cannot, while ornamenting, (springing, as above, excepted,)change the angle of its axial line Ywith the-surface to be ornamented. y

In the machine shown in the drawings, the 'supporting-tableis shown atE, and is mounted upon ways a a, so that it moves in a horizontal plane.The axis of the milling tool or cutter is perpendicular to the plane,and the milling-tool can be moved also in a horizontal plane. If it weredesired to ornament a cylindrical surface, the table or plat-form shouldturn on a horizontal axis, instead of sliding on ways.: One of thecranks shown in the drawing, when turned, causes the tool to move inaright line; the other, when turned, causes the platform to move inaright line perpendicular to that in which the tool moves. By turningboth cranks, the tool and surface can be moved in any direction withrelation to each other in the same plane.

Inasmuch as it is necessary that the surface of the article should befirst rendered smooth, I have found it convenient to organize themachine with two revolving millingtools, one of which is attached to thespindle B, and the other to the spindle C. The office of one of thesemills is to dress off and smooth, by the well-known'millin g operation,the'surface of the article which the other millingtool is to ornament;but I wish it to be understood, however, that my process of ornamentalsurfacing does not necessarily involve as a part of it any particularmeans or method by which the surface of the metal is rendered nt toreceive the ornamentation; and, in fact, I have in some descriptions ofarticles employed a single revolving milling-tool, first to surface themetal and then to ornament that surface.

Ordinarily, however, it is necessary and generally advisable tospecially prepare the surface for ornamentation by smooth-facing it bysome one of the well-known mechanical means employed in facingmetals-as, for example, milling', planing, or grinding.

The milling-tool for producing the ornamental surfacing should be,ordinarily, considerably less in diameter than the width of the articleyto be operated upon, in order to produce all the varied effectsresulting 'from fanciful combinations of lines which compose differentdesigns.

If the machine shown in the drawing be employed, the article to beoperated upon has its surface dressed 0E smooth by one of themilling-tools. It is then brought under the action of the othermilling-tool, for the purpose of having ornamental eects produced uponit. This is eected by moving the table by means of the rack-and-piniongears,- provided for moving the table, or the milling-v tools, or both.

Suppose, for example, the article to be the front plate ofa'mortise-lock. The lock-case which, in the course of manufacture, hashad its front plate already attached thereto, but with the surface ofthe plate rough, as it came from the mold in which it was cast, isplaced in a suitable holder on the table E, and securedtherein byl aproper clamp-fastening, so that the plane of the plate shall beparallel, as near as may be, with the plane of the table. The surface ofthe plate is next dressed off smoothly by the action of the milling-toolattachedto the spindle' B, used in the Ordin ary way. This having beendone7 the table is moved by means of the properrack-and-pinion gears Gto a position which brings the front plate of the lock under themilling-tool, which is attached to the spindle C. The operator can nowproduce aclouded or mottledv surface, aswell as almost any ornamentalgure or design which his fancy may suggest, upon the plate, by 'movingthe table relatively to the revolving mill, or by moving the millrelatively to' the table, or by moving both the table and themilling-tool contemporaneously.-l

n When I desire to produce yan effect very similar to that called stonelinish, which is effected-by grinding a smooth face of metal with asmall whetstone, heldin the hands and moved in lcurved lines, I moveboth the cranks, and' cause the tool to travel `in zigzag or curvedlines over the surface. If the feed or relative motion of surface andtool be slow, the effect will be cloudy or wave-like. If it be fast,there will be perceptible lines and scores, producing lights, shades,and shadows on the surface. y i

If I desire to produce an effect similar to the band d in Fig. 2, or thestrongly-lined part duced owing to the fact that the teeth on one sideof the axis of the tool which revolve against the progression of thesurface cut rapidly and deeply, while the teeth 0n the other side of theaxis, cutting on a surface which is moving rapidly in the same directionas the teeth, hardly cut at all. Some of the effect, moreover, whenrapid feeding is appliedgnay be due to the springing of the tool-shaft,so

that it chatters or cuts most with its face,l

which is in advance when the tool is moving relatively to the surface,and, as it were, digs into the siuface; but whether I be right or wrongin my theory is of no vimportance as the manipulation described with amilling-tool revolving at the usual velocity will produce ornamentaleffects. y n A l I have used the words slow, fast, and rapid as appliedto the feed. I cannot give any precise number of inches per minute ascorresponding to those words. All I can 'say is, that if any one willtake a piece of brass with a smooth surface, and put it in amillingmachine, and run it under the tool at a greater speed than thatwhich will produce smooth cutting, he will be informed b y the effect asto what I mean by fast,77 and if he increase this speed till the toolscores the surface, he will know what a rapid feed means., The cloudy orwavy effects, which result from a zigzag or curvilinear feed, may beproduced by an emery-wlieel, grindstone, or whetstone, mounted andacting asa face-milling tool acts, and I consider them as equivalentsfor millingtools.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, isy rlhe described improvement inthe art of ornamentally surfacingmetallic articles, which consists in subjecting the article to be sosurfaced to the action of one or more revolving milling-tools whilesupported upon a bed or table having a movement within a fixed planerelative to such tool, and advancing and Withdrawing the work under theconditions hereinbefore explained, thereby producing by abrasion theornamental effects, substantially as shown and described. c

FRANK W. MIX. Witnesses:v

M. S. WIARD, THEO. E. SMITH.

